Combination cooking and heating unit



Nov. 19, 1940 J. E. LEONARD I COMBINATION COOKING AND HEATING UNIT FiledJan. 17,1938

6 ,6 m M 3 A 6 r M a I i A w l w 5 a w 6 if l M v T fi Y l B PatentedNov. 19, 1940 AT ENT OFFICE COMBINATION COOKITNG AND HEATING Joseph E.Leonard. Berkeley, Calif., assignor to Hammer-Bray Company, Ltd.,Oakland, Calif.,

a corporation of Nevada The invention relates to heating and cookingstoves of more or less standard design, including a top burnercompartment for cooking and an oven and broiler compartment and thelike.

It has been the custom to construct the broiler and oven of a stove ofthe character described with the broiler compartment directly under theoven compartment and to utilize a single burnerfor both broiling andheating the oven. This arrangement has been popular with stovemanufacturers principally for constructional reasons, in that itsimplified the construction of the stove and permitted the dual use ofthe burner as aforesaid. However, from a functional standpoint, there islittle reason for combiningthe broiler and oven inasmuch as these unitsare seldom simultaneously used and generally in using the broiler, theheat transmitted to and absorbed in the oven is put to no realbeneficial use. On the other hand, the arrangement has certaindisadvantages, among which is the undesirable low position of thebroiler and the .inconvenience caused the user in opening and closingthe broiler drawer and observing the food being cooked at such arelatively low elevation inthe stove. There has, therefore, been agrowing desire to raise the elevation of the broiler in the stove and toalso separate the broiler from the oven.

In addition to the above, there has been a 319 modern trend toincorporate in the stove an emcient heater of an air circulating orradiant type which may be used to warm the kitchen and adjacent rooms.In accordance with the present invention and as a principal objectthereof, I 85 provide a combination broiler and heater unit which may beincorporated in a stove of standard dimensions at a substantially higherposition in the stove than the broiler compartment hereto fore, and atthe same time to make an efficient use of the heat generated by thebroiler burner for heating the surrounding atmosphere. This unitpreferably is arranged in the stove'as an air circulating heater sothata comparatively large volume of air is drawn. through the unit andheated and passes into the roomfor heating the latter by convection,although the same may be used as a radiant heater if desired, In eithercase, the unit possesses substantial advantages over the former oven andbroiler combination from a heating standpoint inasmuch as the use of theoven for heating the room has never been satisfactory. In the firstplace, the oven is generally well insulated in the stove and produces,therefore, an extremely low radiation to the sur- 5; rounding room anddoes not embody any efficient air passage means for circulating heatedair by convection. On the other hand, the opening of the oven door toheat the surrounding room, as is often done, may permit the escape ofthe products of combustion from the burner into the room and is for thisreason undesirable.

A further object of the present invention is to features of advantage,some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the followingdescription of the preferred form of the invention which is illustratedin the drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification. It isto be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by thesaid drawing and description may be adopted within the scope of theinvention as set forth in the claims.

Referring to said drawing:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a stove constructed inaccordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the stove taken substantiallyon the plane of line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the stove.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on theplane of line 4-4 of Figure 3.

The heating and cooking unit of the present device and as illustrated inthe accompanying drawing, consists briefly in a casing or heater shellhaving its side walls exposed for heating, by radiation and conduction,the surrounding atmosphere in a room or an intermediate air passage forheating and circulating air into the room. The unit further includes anopen side portion in the casing for aflording access tov the interiorthereof, a burner in the casing and a. food supporting tray mounted inthe casing and positioned for heating of food carried thereby by theburner.

Preferably, the unit is embodied in a stove 6 of more or less standardconstruction having a top gas burner chamber 1 and an oven compart ment8 provided between an insulated end wall 9, an interior intermediateinsulated wall H, a

top insulated wall. I! which may form the top of 5' is a burner it forheating the oven and positioned thereover is a baffle l1 forming thebottom wall proper of the oven compartment for distributing the heatuniformly across the bottom of the oven and distributing the heatedproducts of combustion around the sides of the oven. A discharge outletis is provided adjacent the top and rear of the compartment for theproducts and this outlet is connected to a flue box l9 provided at therear of the stove. The space 2| in the compartment 8 under the burner itmay be used to accommodate a broiler tray if desired.

The heater and cooking unit aforementioned is preferably embodied in achamber 22 defined between the intermediate wall H and an opposite 'endwall 23 .of the stove, between the front and rear walls and it of thestove and under the top wall I2. The elements of the unit asaforementioned, include a heater casing'or shell 25, a burner 26 and abroiler tray 21. Preferably,

ggthe burner and tray are mounted in the upper portion of the casing soas to provide a relatively high positioning of the broiler tray and ashere shown, the latter is supported by a pair of spaced runners 28extending fromthe rear side 29 of 30 the casing to the front side 36,which in the 5 compartment for storing pots and pans or the like and ispreferably provided with an open front side portion 33 which may beclosed by an exterior door 34. Similarly, the upper part of the casingis provided with an open front portion 36 opposite to the tray 21 topermit with- 7o obstructed such as here shown. by means of a 1 26 aredischarged into the flue box N from the drawal of the tray through theopening 36 and this opening is also preferably closed by a door 31carried by the front wall M of the stove.

In accordance with the present arrangement the shell, with the exceptionof the front wall, is'

completely spaced from the adjacent side walls of the stove so as todefine an air passage 38 surrounding the casing. This surrounding airpassage is made up in its component parts by a vertical air passage 39between the end wall 23 of the stove and the adjacent side wall 4| ofthe casing, a vertical air passage 42 between the intermediate wall IIand the-adjacent side wall 43 of the casing, a vertical air passage 46between the rear wall iii of the stove and the rear wall 29 of thecasing, and a horizontal air passage 46 between the top wall 12 ofthe-stove and the adjacent top wall 41 of the casing and which connectsthe upper ends of the vertical passages 39,,

maximum volume output of heated air, I prefer to use an arrangementsubstantially as shown with the heater casing substantially completelysurrounded by the air passages. The air heated in these passages isvented from the stove body by way of an opening 48. provided in the endwall 23 of the stove. This opening may be partially grill plate 49having a plurality of vertically extending horlzontally spacedslots 5 lfor passage of air. The products of combustion from the burner upperrear side of the casing by means of a discharge conduit 52 extendingfrom the casing through the passage 44 and rear wall iii of the stoveinto the flue box l8. Preferably, a bame plate 53 is mountedover theburner 26 in the casing so as to cause a lateral deflection of theseproducts to retard their passage into the flue and to detain theproducts in the casing sufficiently long to enable a transfer of a,majority of the heat therein to the casing. The baflle also operates toreflect heat downwardly in the casing to heat the lower portions of theside walls and thereby increase the heat transfer to the air passagesaforesaid. Also preferably, there is mounted at the front of the casingacross a portion of the opening 3% to the front of the burner 26 atransversely extending member 54 which operates to shield the burnerfrom the opening and direct radiation therethrough upon opening of thedoor 31.

It will now be understood that the heater and cooking unit provides aneflicient dual use for both heating the room and for broiling or othercooking operation and that whenever the heater is in operation, the unitis available for broiling and on the other hand, whenever the unit isused for broiling, there is an efiicient and plentiful circulation ofpure heated air 1% the room. During the warmer seasons of the year,however, it is desirable to use the unit for broiling or cookingpurposes only and to minimize heat transmitted into the room. During thesummer months the average housewife as a rule does little baking orroasting in the oven compartment, yet frequently uses the broiler forprepar- This arrangement is carried out in the present construction bythe provision of a discharge opening 56 in the rear wall 83 of the stoveat the rear side of the top air passage 56 and the rear vertical airpassage 56 and communicating these passages with the flue box it. Thisopeningis normally closed by a flap valve plate 51 mounted in the fluebox l9 and which is displaceable from the opening 56 to vent the heatedair into the flue box if desired. As here shown,

the plate 51 is hinged to the rear wall l3 of the stove at the bottom ofthe opening Stand may be swungqto an open position, as illustratedv inFigure 2, by means of a push rod 58 carried along the inner side of endwall 23 of the stove and pivoted to the depending end 59 of a rod 6|fixed to the plate 51 along-the 'axis of the pivotal connection thereofto the wall Hi. In the present arrangement the opening of the door 51 isarranged to be effected simultaneously with a closing of the hot airdischarge opening 48 and to this end a plate 82 is mounted to the rearof grill plate 49 and is provided with a plurality of' close thedischarge passage 348. This relativemovement of the plate 62 may beeflected by means of a knob 64 fixed to the plate 62 and exair dischargepassage, the valve plate 51 will be swung to an open position.Preferably, the end wall 23 and the rear wall [3 of the stove areinsulated so that there will be but a minimum transfer of heattherethrough upon closing of the hot air discharge register and aventing of the hot air into the flue. It will be understood that whenthe hot air discharge register is closed and the circulating passagesconnected to the flue, relatively. large volumes of cool air will bedrawn along the inner surfaces of the stove side walls to keep thesesurfaces relatively cool during the use oi the heater and cookingunit asa broiler.

I claim: h j

1. An air circulating heater comprising, inner and outer casings mountedin spaced relation to deflne an air passage therebetween, means ventingsaid passage to the exterior of said outer casing, said casings havingregistering open front portions, a closure tor said open portion in"said outer casing and aifording accessto the interior of said innercasing, a gas burner in said inner casing, a flue connected to saidinner casing for venting the products from said burner, and means forshunting vsaid air passage into said flue and away from said flrstmeans.

In the present construction 7 2. An air circulating heater and cookingunit comprising, a casing having an open side portion, a displaceableclosure for said portion affording access to the interior of saidcasing, an inverted gas burner in said casing, an outer casingsurrounding part of'said flrst casing and being spaced therefrom todefine therewith an airheating and circulating passage, a doorconnecting said passage with the atmosphere, a flue adjacent the top ofsaid inner casing for ventingthe products from said burner, a bafllemounted over said burner and under said flue for deflecting saidproducts away from said flue and for deflecting heat downwardly in saidinner casing, and means whereby upon displacement of said door saidpassage is disconnected from the atmosphere and vented to said flue.

3. As a unit in a cooking stove having a top wall and an ovencompartment under one side of said wall, a casing, mounted under saidwall adjacent said oven compartment and having the side walls thereofspaced from said oven compartment and an end wall of said stove todefine vertical air passages at the outer sides oi' said casing, a .wallserving as iront closure for said air passages and said casing, wherebysaid pas-' sages are completely sealed from the space inside saidcasing, passage means for venting said passages to the exterior of saidstove, said front wall of said casing and stove having an openingdefined therein, a displaceable closure for said last named opening andaflording access to the interior oi said casing, and a burner in saidcasing.

roam E. woman.

